Owner/Driver #339
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The legal view Sarah Marinovic<br />
Counting kilometres<br />
Jumping from local work to long distance can be a<br />
minefield as far as your logbook is concerned<br />
AS WE ALL KNOW, there are a<br />
multitude of ways to be pinged<br />
for breaching the work diary<br />
rules. I thought I’d seen them<br />
all – from confusing rules<br />
about counting time, to<br />
pulling out (or leaving in) the<br />
wrong duplicate pages, to forgetting to<br />
tick a box.<br />
However, recently I’ve come across a<br />
scenario that’s a new one for me. I hope<br />
that bringing it to everyone’s attention<br />
can help avoid anyone else falling into<br />
the same trap.<br />
This potential breach happens when a<br />
driver unexpectedly switches from local<br />
to 100-plus kilometre work.<br />
The Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL)<br />
requires drivers operating under<br />
standard hours to fill in their work diary<br />
for each day on which they undertake<br />
100-plus kilometre work. The driver is<br />
required to record all work on the day,<br />
including any local (100km) work. They<br />
need to fill in the work diary whenever<br />
they switch from work to rest time and<br />
vice versa.<br />
This is simple enough when the driver<br />
knows that they will be doing 100-plus<br />
kilometre work that day. From the<br />
beginning of their workday they know<br />
th ey need to be recording all work and<br />
rest, no matter where it happens, and so<br />
will begin recording time from the start.<br />
HEFTY FINES<br />
But what happens on those days where<br />
a driver is unexpectedly asked to do a<br />
longer trip? For example, if they started<br />
the day expecting to do all local work<br />
SARAH MARINOVIC is a<br />
principal solicitor at Ainsley<br />
Law – a firm dedicated to<br />
traffic and heavy vehicle<br />
law. She has focused on this<br />
expertise for over a decade,<br />
having started her career<br />
prosecuting for the RMS, and<br />
then using that experience<br />
as a defence lawyer helping<br />
professional drivers and<br />
truck owners. For more<br />
information email Sarah at<br />
sarah@ainsleylaw.com.au or<br />
phone 0416 224 601<br />
then they weren’t required to fill in<br />
their work diary. So they won’t have a<br />
record of their work for the first part of<br />
the day.<br />
In these cases, the HVNL still requires<br />
the driver to fill in their work diary for<br />
the whole day. This means once they<br />
realise they’re going to be doing 100-<br />
plus kilometre work they need to go<br />
back and fill in the information for the<br />
earlier local work. They need to do this<br />
as soon as practicable after they realise<br />
they’re going to be doing 100-plus<br />
kilometre work.<br />
If the driver isn’t aware of this then<br />
they can be facing a court summons<br />
and a hefty fine. If they mistakenly<br />
fill in the beginning of their day as<br />
rest time they could be charged with<br />
making a false or misleading entry,<br />
which carries a maximum penalty of<br />
$11,210.<br />
This is a classic example of the type of<br />
situation where good drivers get caught<br />
out. When we divert from our normal<br />
habits it’s easy to overlook something.<br />
It’s the ‘change of plans’ that often<br />
catch people out.<br />
The take home lesson is to remember<br />
that you need to record all work and<br />
rest on any day you drive more than<br />
100km from your base.<br />
If plans change, try to take a step<br />
back from what is often a chaotic<br />
moment and instead take a moment to<br />
double check the requirements. That<br />
extra few minutes at the start is well<br />
worth it to avoid giving the authorities<br />
a reason to send you to court.<br />
GEARBOX & DIFFS<br />
Unit 1/71 Axis Place, Larapinta, QLD 4110 www.gibbsparts.com.au<br />
P: (07) 3276 9300 F: (07) 3276 9301 E: davids@gibbsparts.com E: gd@gibbsparts.com<br />
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APRIL 2021 37